Tag: Okudzeto Ablakwa

The assertions made by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a member of parliament for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), that he was unaware of GETFund scholarship agreements while serving as deputy minister of education have been refuted.
According to information obtained by DAILY GUIDE, Mr. Ablakwa participated actively in GETFund scholarship negotiations while serving as a minister in the NDC government.

According to some reports, the NDC MP had enough clout to ‘by-pass’ GETFund employees and ‘personally’ negotiate scholarship agreements with overseas colleges on GETFund’s behalf.
A memorandum of agreement (MoU) has been signed by Mr. Ablakwa on behalf of GETFund and Lovely Professional University (LPU) of India.
The contentious Memorandum of Understanding, signed on March 16, 2016, was primarily designed to help negotiate scholarship offers for Ghanaian students to study in India, as well as to give support for Ghanaian schools.

It went on to say that the GETFund was the top body of education in Ghana, in charge of regulating, expanding, and developing institutions in Ghana’s higher education system.
It stated that both GETFund and the LPU recognized that they shared many interests and that their collaboration would benefit both parties.
“GETFund, Ghana has tied up with LPU to provide access to quality education to the students of Ghana,” the MoU, which had Dr. Monica Gulati, the Registrar of LPU, also as a signatory, indicated.

“GETFund intends to further work with LPU, which has already made a significant contribution in the area of higher education in India to guide and mentor universities/colleges and such other organisations,” the MoU added.
The report was released at a time when Mr. Ablakwa publicly denied knowing about GETFund scholarship programs while serving as deputy minister of education.
There have been heated debates in the media recently when it was revealed that some MPs and government officials from both the NDC and the NPP received GETFund scholarships.
Even in the GETFund paperwork, there is a name Mercy Ablakwa, thought to be Mr. Ablakwa’s relative, suggesting that she also received a GETFund scholarship in 2010.

According to an award letter reportedly signed by the GETFund administrator, Sam Garba, Mercy Ablakwa was awarded a total of $33,400 on August 12, 2010 to pursue a BSc Nursing at the University of Charleston in the United States.
The academic scholarship was worth $16,032, while the living allowance and passage cost $17,366.

The Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has asked that the North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, retracts and apologizes for the falsehood that he was Secretary for the National Cathedral in 2019 since its incorporation.

According to Ablakwa, Godfred Yeboah Dame was registered as Secretary of the National Cathedral Board while also serving on the board of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), which approved the contract for the project design.
“It is quite revealing to observe that when the National Cathedral was incorporated on 18th July 2019; the then Deputy AG, Godfred Dame was registered as Secretary. During that same period, he served on the board of the PPA which approved Adjaye’s irregular sole sourcing contract”, Okudjeto Ablakwa wrote on his Facebook page.

Reacting to this claim, Mr. Dame dismissed the claims of breaching conflict of interest rules in processes leading to the incorporation of the National Cathedral of Ghana as a private company.
According to the Attorney-General, the allegation against him “is utterly false.”

In responding to the question, he explained that “the National Cathedral of Ghana was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee (non-profit making entity) on 18th July 2019.”
“Quite clearly, at the time of the approval by PPA (on whose governing board I served in my former capacity as Deputy Attorney-General), no company known as the National Cathedral of Ghana had been formed for me to be Secretary of, or have any purported interest in to declare. I could not have had a so-called interest in a non-existent company. If Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa had cared to read or examine the relevant documents well, as he should have, this plain fact would not have been lost on him,” he explained.

He further stated that, “for the avoidance of doubt, I state that my role as Secretary (not a director or a member) to a not-for-profit company owned by the State does not present me with any personal interest which conflicts with the performance of my functions as a Minister.”
“The record reflects the fact that even in respect of companies limited by liability (profit-making entities), the State regularly appoints public officers, including Ministers, to serve as members of the board of directors to protect the public interest where the State is a shareholder,” he added.